Wednesday, September 07, 2016

PLoS NTD: Culex quinquefasciatus Not Competent To Transmit Zika Virus

#11,716

Given the back-and-forth we've seen on this topic over the past few months (see here, here, and here) it may be a bit naive to assume we've heard the last on this, but we've another analysis - published yesterday in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - that concludes the Culex quinquefasciatusis notcompetent to transmit local strains of Zika.

Author Summary

The
pandemic Zika epidemic has affected nearly all American countries. The
etiological agent is a mosquito-borne-virus originated from Africa that
spread to Asia and more recently, to the Pacific region and the
Americas.

We experimentally demonstrated that the common house nightly
biting mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus from Rio de Janeiro was not susceptible to locally circulating Zika virus (ZIKV) strains. Dissemination was not observed in Cx. quinquefasciatus
regardless of the ZIKV isolate used and the incubation period after the
ingestion of an infected blood meal.

No infectious ZIKV particle was
detected in the saliva of the four Cx. quinquefasciatus populations examined until 3 weeks after virus exposure. In contrast, we confirmed that local Aedes aegypti
mosquitoes can be infected, disseminate ZIKV at significantly high
rates, and assured moderate to very high viral transmission after day 14
of virus exposure.

We concluded that Cx. quinquefasciatus is not competent to transmit local ZIKV. Our results support that mosquito control should focus on Ae. aegypti to reduce Zika transmission.